


you've built your wall so high that no one could climb it but i'm gonna try

by bugabisous (mariafernanda)



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Ladrien | Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng as Ladybug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:27:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24850798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mariafernanda/pseuds/bugabisous
Summary: No amount of convoluted shenanigans could have prepared him for the sight of Ladybug, standing in his bedroom, bathed in moonlight.or,Ladybug and Adrien have a heart-to-heart.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 13
Kudos: 91





	you've built your wall so high that no one could climb it but i'm gonna try

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Beneath your beautiful by Labrinth ft. Emeli Sande.

Ever since becoming Chat Noir, Adrien had grown used to the unexpected always happening and he had learned to deal with it. Sneaking away for patrolling even when Nathalie kept checking on him because he accidentally twitched when she was summarizing his schedule? Just put those acting skills that were surely genetic to good use and fake being on the verge of death - not like she would care enough to check on him to see if he was feeling better, she never did. Needing to sneak away for an akuma attack on the one rare occasion that Gorilla had helped him smuggle Nino into his room? Just “take a shower,” because of “the model in you” and endure endless teasing from your best friend. Said akuma’s power being the ability to steal everyone’s socks? Easy peasy. One of his friends nearly kissing him when he was pretending to be a statue? Sure, just massively put your foot in your mouth and ultimately apologize until you were blue in the face, because she was a forgiving person and would understand.

But no amount of convoluted shenanigans could have prepared him for the sound of Ladybug falling through his window and right into the middle of his bedroom. 

There, standing in front of his sofa, framed by moonlight, chest heaving, was Ladybug. Unbelievable as it seemed, as if it had been lifted from one of his wildest dreams, she didn’t disappear no matter how many times he blinked at her like an idiot.

“Ladybug?” he managed to stutter out, “What are you doing here? Is there something wrong?” 

He made a move to walk closer to her but stopped upon realizing that she was playing nervously with her hands and biting her lip. She was clearly nervous, and he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable by encroaching in her space.

“No! Nothing’s wrong!” she rushed out to say, waving her hands frantically, “I just, uh, needed some water?” she cringed. 

Adrien was sure that his eyebrows had reached his hairline, but he walked over to his mini-fridge and pulled out a glass and water pitcher anyway. If Ladybug hadn’t told him the real reason she was here, he wasn’t going to push it; just having her around for a few precious minutes was more than enough for him.

“Here,” he said, walking over to her and handing her the glass, feeling her gloved hand brush against his knuckles for a second - as per usual with his interactions with Ladybug, the fact that he didn’t have the extra layer of his suit’s gloves threatened to cause steam to come out of his ears. He took comfort in the fact that she didn’t seem to be looking at him and therefore wouldn’t be privy to his tomato impersonation.

She took a sip, but promptly shook her head, “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I lied,” she blushed, “I guess I just didn’t want to admit that I was feeling a bit lonely and I, I just saw you sitting on the couch talking to yourself and figured I’d say hi, which is ridiculous because you don’t - _we_ don’t know each other,” she finished, turning her face away once again.

“Not that I mind having you here, because believe me I don’t,” he rubbed his neck awkwardly, “but I’m sure Chat Noir wouldn’t mind meeting up with you if you asked him.”

She cringed, which made him feel like crap for the two seconds before she said, “I wouldn’t want to talk to him about this,” at which point he felt broken beyond repair at the realization that she didn’t trust him with whatever was going on with her life.

“Oh,” he said, “you don’t trust him?”

“No, no!” she blurted out, “It’s not that I don’t want to talk to Chat, I’m sure he would hear me out and he wouldn’t be annoyed with me or betray my confidence. I just,” she gave him a sad smile, “I don’t want to hurt him.”

“Hurt him?” he replied, incredulous, “You would never!”

She chuckled ruefully, walking to the couch and sitting down. Adrien, not knowing what else he could possibly do, sat down next to her - making sure to keep as much distance as necessary to avoid looking overly familiar with her.

“I…” she started, then cleared her throat, “I’m sure you know that Chat Noir likes me.”

“More like he is stupidly in love with you,” he cut off, a bit annoyed at her trying to downplay his feelings for her - before he realized she was probably sugarcoating it for the supposedly random civilian she was talking to, “but go on,” he waved his hand alongside the words.

“Uh, yeah, so,” she continued, “so he’s in love with me, as you put it, and, well, I,” she paused, before taking a deep breath, “I’m in love with someone else. A guy from my civilian life, you know?”

He nodded and smiled, even though the dull ache the words caused wasn’t lessened by his lack of cat ears or the fact that she didn’t know about his feelings.

“I don’t want to hurt him by talking about this boy, even though I know he wouldn’t hold it against me. He would listen to me, with a smile on his face, but I’d know that he’s secretly feeling rejected and just covering it up, and I just don’t want to put him through that, you know?” 

“So you chose a random civilian?” he laughed. 

“You’re not random!” she said fiercely, eyes widening a moment later, “What I mean is, you helped me once, didn’t you? With Desperada.”

“Not like I was very helpful, but I suppose that you’re right.”

He felt her hand cover his a second later, and he stared at the contrast between the red of her suit and the paleness of his skin bathed in the moonlight and the faint glow of the television. He took the chance to squeeze her hand, and felt a tingle of satisfaction, and painful, _painful_ longing when she did the same.

“You were amazing that day. I might not remember it, and we might not be close, but I know you did the best you could,” she smiled at him when he looked up, “and one day I’ll need help again, and I wouldn’t hesitate before choosing you, not even for a second.”

He was sure he was holding his breath, but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out how to get his lungs to work again. His brain couldn’t choose what to focus on - the curve of her smile, the glint in her blue eyes, the warmth of her hand in his, or the faint pink color peeking beneath her faithful mask? He was feeling everything at once, and yet he felt as if he wasn’t feeling enough.

“I would love to fight by your side,” he mumbled in response once he recovered the ability to form words. Perhaps not the smartest words to say, considering he had an unshakeable commitment to be there as her partner, as Chat Noir, and he had learned to not forsake that no matter how thrilling it was to fight alongside her knowing that she knew who he was.

“Something tells me we would be quite the team,” she smiled, letting go of his hand. “Thank you, Adrien, you really cheered me up.”

He frowned, “I didn’t really do anything. We never even talked about what was bothering you,” he said confused.

“It no longer matters, I’m not upset anymore,” she stood up, brushing imaginary dust and lint from her suit before turning to look at him, “I promise.”

“If you ever want to talk about it, I’ll leave my window open,” he found himself saying. She blushed lightly and gave him a small grin, before leaning and dropping a quick kiss to his cheek.

Adrien didn’t move from his stupefied state on the couch until minutes had passed since she left. It was then that he realized that she had never rejected his offer, and then he smiled.


End file.
